| Orchid | 1995 |
| Morningrise | 1996 |
| My Arms, Your Hearse | 1998 |
| Still Life | 1999 |
| Blackwater Park | 2001 |
| Deliverance | 2002 |
| Damnation | 2003 |
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(reviewed by Philip Maddox)
Opeth are considered to be one of the best bands in black metal, and this, their debut album, is often considered to be a masterpiece. The album basically consists of 5 REALLY long songs, ranging from around 8 to 14 minutes long, along with 2 short, pretty instrumental interludes. I certainly don't mind the fact that the band is writing epic songs - hell, Yes is one of my favorite bands - but I DO mind when those epic tracks go exactly nowhere. And that's where these epics go - exactly nowhere.
Out of the big 5 tunes here, the opener, "In Mist She Was Standing", is the only fairly memorable tune in the bunch. Then again, that might be just because it opens things up and I haven't had a chance to be overwhelmed by the album's monotony yet. The tune is good, though, keeping my interest through most of its 14 minutes. It lags in spots, but it's actually pretty impressive - there are loads of riffs in here that I actually like, and the closing instrumental bit is actually quite pretty - it isn't exactly "The Musical Box" by Genesis (a song I recommend you listen to RIGHT NOW if you haven't), but it's nice. After that, song after song just floats by. Riffs start to repeat themselves ad infinitum, until you have no idea where one track starts and another stops. This is VERY annoying, and while it makes the album OK for background listening, actually paying attention to the record is quite out of the question. I'll admit that there are a couple of decent riffs that pop up throughout the album, but it's not worth the trouble digging them out.
Another problem I have with this album is the singer's voice. God, it's AWFUL! I've heard some bad screaming/screeching before, but this exceeds all limits. He sounds a bit like a troll in heat. It's bad. And VERY annoying. It never really ruins the material (most of the album is instrumental jamming on repeated chord sequences), but it DOES kill my desire to actually put the record back in my CD deck. And just to be mean, I'm gonna talk about the stupid lyrics. They're all completely incomprehensible, but if you read the lyrics, you'll laugh. "In solitude I wander/Through the vast enchanted forest" (from "The Apostle In Triumph") is probably my favorite, but there's some stiff competetion from "The forest of October/Sleeps silent when I depart/The web of time/Hides my last traces".
You know, I like black metal as a concept - dark, creepy, slow, long tunes about death and cold and darkness and so on - but it must be pretty damn hard to actually pull off a winner in the genre - most of my purchases have been pretty monotonous. The thing is, this is considered to be one of the BEST ones ever released, so maybe the problem is on my end. Still, this album, while not being bad, is too boring to enjoy at all, and if not for the opener, the grade would be even lower. As of yet, Theli by Therion and Midian by Cradle Of Filth remain the only black metal releases that have completely satisfied me (unless you count Type O Negative, which is debatable - I don't, but that's just me).
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COMMENTS
[email protected] (Robert Grazer)
I only listened to this album once, so I won't write a whole review for it, but I would like to point out a few things. First of all, this is not black metal. At least, not by what I understand the genre to be. This is death metal (yes, there is a difference between all of this stuff, believe it or not). The singer's name is Mikael Akerfeldt, a guy who has done some work with the great Edge of Sanity, and I somewhat agree with you about his style. When he did some guest vocal parts for EoS, like in Crimson (By the way, I screwed up in my review for that album, that's him who does the "Nevermore" screams and that best death metal scream ever, not Swano. It doesn't make me like Swano any less, though.) or "The Bleakness of it All" he's fine, but to here it's just a little too much. The music doesn't fit with the way he screams. "Forest of October," for example, would have worked better with a much lower growling voice; Akerfeldt works better with faster death metal tracks, not with this sort of thing.
My problem with the actual music is that while all of the things you need for a great death metal CD are here, they just don't work together well at all. Most of the riffs aren't that good at all, most of the solos are forgettable, most of the speed is not well done at all, most of the cleaner sections are dull, most of the "beautiful" parts are not beautiful, and so on. Then again, this might be how many people feel about Exhumed of the Earth, although I haven't actually met anyone who had heard that albums so I guess I'll never know. There are, however, quite a few nice moments throughout the album, to the point where I'd give this a high 5, but still there are never enough of these moments to make a truly good song, especially when they're all this long. Since Opeth is considered one of the best death metal bands I might try one of their later albums, but for now I'll stick to Within the Ancient Forest and Crimson.
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Black Rose Immortal, Nectar, To Bid You Farewell. LOW POINTS: None.
Now this is nice. But first, let's talk about the bands debut. Orchid, though I'm trying to enjoy it more, still strikes me as a pointless bore that lacks in both true creativity and structure. I thought I should write Opeth off as pretentious lunatics who couldn't make a good album to save their lives. What stopped me? I learned that they had a 20 minute long song. Now, maybe since their other stuff was so dull I would have just ignored this fact, but hey, I love really long songs, and 20 minutes is pretty long. So I sign myself onto Audiogalaxy and download me a copy of "Black Rose Immortal," listen to it, and WOW. I was quite impressed. That there is the reason I decided to continue with this band.
Morningrise, widely considered to be their best release, is a LEAP forward for Opeth in terms of songwriting. I mean, honestly, I don't know how many bands have managed to such an unreal improvement over their debut album. This has rapidly become one of my favorite releases in all of metal, extreme or not. Morningrise has just five songs on it, one thirteen minutes long, one twenty, and three that are about ten to eleven minutes. And everything that they were missing on Orchid can be found here. Structure, well formed riffs and melodies, everything all of the other great death metal bands have, along with Opeth's progressive and epic touch.
First of is "Advent," a song that begins the album quietly with a simple acoustic melody before taking you all sorts of places with the magnificent music. That's another thing I've learned about Opeth. They have their own ability to create a unique universe around the listener in the Close To The Edge tradition, but to say that you should just listen to Yes instead would be a mistake, as Opeth's world is far different from Yes'. This style continues through "The Night And The Silent Water" (where Mikeal's silent whispers in the "You speak in the night" in a most wonderful fashion), and then "Nectar" gives us some of Mikael's Akerfeldt's best death vocal work with the "I will always love you!" scream. He's grown some since the previous album, and while he might still belong in speed metal, I feel it's much easier to get used to his work here, partly due to the increased use of clean vocals.
And then there's "Black Rose Immortal." A masterpiece. And absolute and complete masterpiece, one of the finest pieces of music I've ever heard. Once again the music takes you away to other peaceful, fearful, beautiful, horrifying places. Not just that, but there's even been some sections written by... Dan Swano! The vocal melody of the "You are, in a forest alone" was written my him. Not to mention the entire section from about 9:30 to 14:40 the simple whisper of "Black rose immortal" is one of the best pieces of melodic death metal ever. It's no wonder Dan Swano once called this the best project he'd ever been a part of. I might not totally agree, but this album seems even better to me with every passing day, so who knows? Maybe one day...
But how do you follow up that? Well, you could make a nice song called "To Bid You Farewell," which is considered by many fans to be the best song the band ever wrote. If "Advent" drew you into Opeth's world, "To Bid You Farewell" helps you come back from it. Gently, the song is almost all acoustic sections and clean vocals, and it takes you away quietly and lands you back into the normal world, and put the album away until you need to come to their little world again. So why don't I give such and album a perfect score? I honestly don't know. I probably will someday, but giving this album a 10 would be a complete and total recommendation, when I can honestly understand that there will be those who won't like this album. When it comes to Opeth people either worship at their feet, calling them absolute musical gods, or dismiss them as pretentious, self-induldgent snobs. Of the two albums by them I've heard, I take both positions. However, Morningrise has been a powerful enough statement that I will look into their other three albums, and I do hope that they are at least almost as incredible as this one was.
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(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: April Ethereal, Epilogue, Karma. LOW POINTS: Credence.
Opeth greatly changed their style with this album, and as a result My Arms, Your Hearse splits many fans. Some say that this was a breakthrough for Opeth, their best ever, or, at the very least continuing their greatness. The others say that this was the beginning of the end, the band changing their style from the Orchid/Morningrise work to a direction that just doesn't fit the band. I'll say that there is definitely a huge change in the band's sound here, the music itself is heavier, the sound darker, and the vocals lower. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that Dan Swano is no longer working with Opeth, so his influence and production that was on the first two album is gone now.
Mikael's vocals are deeper as well, which I think is an improvement, especially with music that isn't as fast as his old vocal style was meant for. His voice now fits in quite well, singing lyrics that I don't really care about. There's some sort of a conceptual story (as well as a "Prologue" and "Epilogue" to open and close the album) line going on through the album, but seeing how silly their lyrics have been in the past I don't think I'll take the time to read the lyrics or pay attention to what Mikael is growling about.
The music itself is certainly not among Opeth's best work, but it's good, I guess, considering that so much of Opeth's style is now gone. It's an interesting listen, but some of it is awful, particularly "Credence" which comes off as an incredibly boring song. Some of the songs are excellent, though. "Karma" and "April Ethereal" sum up the new sound of the album perfectly, showing how everything has changed so much. Of course, you know how Opeth works, right? There's no real point in dividing the album up into individual tracks, since it's supposed to be taken as just one piece. Sure. Unfortunately that causes the album to become monotonous at times, dragging on here or there.
But I still wonder why after the artistic success of Morningrise, which never dragged at all, Opeth felt they needed to stray in this direction. They had taken their original style and molded it into near-perfect masterpiece, and now all of a sudden they think they need to change it? Did they need another challenge? I respect their daring move, but that doesn't mean I have to love it. Good album, though, still showing the band's strong songwriting, even if it's not the band's best songwriting.
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(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: The Moor, White Cluster. LOW POINTS: None.
Apparently, while the more pure death metal style did earn the band a bunch of new fans, the release of My Arms, Your Hearse had some of their older fans quite upset with the band losing their milder side, and so it seems that they've tried to both tone down their music some with more acoustic passages and such and at the same time keep in some of the darker elements that they'd put into the last album. Still Life’s an improvement, I'll give it that. Of course, it is an Opeth album, so if you plan on buying it do be prepared for over an hour of the same thing over and over. But it’s a good thing that they're repeating, so I'm able to forgive. But the fans were pleased. It’s widely considered to be among the band’s finest work. Me, I still wish they'd further perfected their Morningrise style, but it seems that that’s not going to happen, so I'll live with this.
It’s another concept album, I believe, but once again it doesn't send me running to the lyrics sheet. The music maintains a similar and deep, dark mood (big surprise), with each song building on the last, so that at times it could be hard to tell where the tracks change. That is, of course, the point, as the songs move on slowly for their duration (which, since the band’s fans tend to care, is an average of slightly less than nine minutes). And still, it’s all interesting, which I find to be Opeth’s biggest strength: taking long monotonous songs that should really bore the listener to death (and do, on occasion), and turn them into something interesting. I guess that’s what makes them so unique.
But they still aren't the death metal gods that they're often made out to be. Sure their stuff is all nice and deep and such, but, mostly because of their slow, monotonous style, they still can't, other than their one moment of true glory in ‘96, release album like Crimson or Sonrise. Or at least they haven't yet. Let’s watch them keep trying. I hope they get it sometime. But as for now we'll sit, and wait, and enjoy what they give us now to the best of our ability, and depending on who you are, that can be quite a lot right there. There’s absolutely no way to know whether or not you'll like Opeth until you go out and try them for yourself.
I suppose I should mention a song or two, so I'll go with what I've found to be my favorite track on here, the opening “The Moor,” which, like most Opeth tracks can, sums up the album in it’s epic 11 plus minute length, but is an exciting little journey. So there you have it. Another Opeth album. It’s either a masterpiece or a bore, and that pretty much depends on how you view their other releases. On a slightly different note, the album cover rules, perfectly reflecting the music inside. Overall I'd say that I prefer Blackwater Park slightly, but as uncomfortable as I am reviewing Opeth, I can still say that this is still a very excellent release.
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COMMENTS
I completely agree with you, Robert. This is great, yeah, but it's overhyped. Lots of people tend to think that just because these songs are long and "epic" sounding, that this immediately qualifies them as masterpieces. But they're not, they're simply good songs. My favorite is "The Moor". That accoustic intro is beautiful, and then it bursts into some really nice riffs and growls. My overall opinion on this one and Blackwater Park are pretty much the same, excellent stuff but not as earth-shattering as the metal world might lead one to believe. Oh yeah, and that album cover is a beauty.
Ack! I cant believe you didnt mention "Face of Melinda" as a highlight. What great grasp of vocal and guitar melodies these guys have. As well as textural use of the multiple guitars. Anyways, if "Face of Melinda" isnt a highlight on Still Life, this must be one incredible disc. I'll have to either (a) buy it or (b) steal the rest off of Audiogalaxy when i go back to school. BTW, its nice to see that these morons didnt ruin "Melinda" with more pointless death metal screaming like they did on other tracks like "The Drapery Falls" and "Bleak" off of the next album. Why cant they just ditch the screams altogether? They dont remotely fit those songs i mentioned.
[email protected] (Cathy & Chris Blake)
I don't agree with you about the lyrics concerning Still Life by Opeth. Morningrise and Orchid did have kind of corny lyrics I'll admit. But ever since My Arms, Your Hearse Akerfeldts lyrcis have been beautifully poetic, pretty deep and not cheesy in the least. Exception: Credence has corny lyrics. I think Still Life is the best Metal album ever ever made, better than Morningrise and BWP.
As far as Opeth being boring what a crock of shit my friend. They often decide to play slowly but it is makes it much more interesting than your average 'throw 5 billion beats in a second, scream at the top of your lungs, and hope it sounds good' approach. Crimson is an amazing album as well, but in my opinion it lacks the sheer beauty of Opeth's music, particularly the mourning and lovely acoustic sections. Maybe its just me but the guitars in Crimson sound a bit hollow and weak, the notes aren't piercing enough, maybe thats just the production. Opeth are THE metal gods...one day you will know this. But I won't force you to this conclusion...one day you will just know.
As a guitar player who loves complexity but also sensibility in the music I listen to, Opeth are probably the most extreme of my favorite bands. That said, I have tremendous respect for the ability they've acquired (over time, mind you) to connect acoustic folk/pop stuff with death metal and make it work and be listenable. I also think it's cool that Mikael writes all the music and does the clean and growly vocals equally well. Now, on to the album. I've pretty much gone through Opeth's catalog in reverse order, and I must say, Still Life has been the most impressive one I've gotten thus far. "The Moor" is probably the only song you need to listen to to get what the album is like: that said, it's easily the most excellent song on the album, with beautiful guitar harmonies and acoustic playing in the middle. "Benighted" is a second-favorite, with excellent classical-style acoustic playing and effective crescendos towards the end. The others are rather similar, but with consistently good music to be found throughout. One qualm I have, however, is with the acoustic bits in "Face of Melinda." Overall a good song, especially the ending, I wish Opeth would ditch all the dissonant crap and save it for their metal pieces. I would otherwise have no problem with it if I had any idea what Akerfeldt is trying to convey with it, but until Blackwater Park the lyrics have been pretty incomprehensible. Opeth would be more deserving of their exalted position of "makers of beautiful music" title if they just made their acoustic pieces straight-up minor key instead of doing all that ugly shifting through conflicting chords and keys--they've proven that they can do the former without sounding too generic(as in the intro to the "Moor" and "Benighted" show). Replies and comments would be appreciated.
I started to listen to Opeth about four years ago and I was blown away by their distinct sound. I suppose you can say it's progressive death, and slightly gothic on some of the acoustic songs. I even went to see them in January 2003 in Pittsburgh, and they were great. But after listening to them for this long, I have become slightly bored of their music. Sure they are excellent guitar players, but on a sixty minute CD I'm only hearing 15 to 20 minutes of interesting riffs. They need to try to focus on some better riffs and acoustic passages, especially on Deliverance which was a major disappointment. They maybe need to wait at least three years because they put out CD's too quick.
(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Harvest, The Leper Affinity, Dirge Of November. LOW POINTS: None, I guess.
Since 1995 when Opeth first began perfecting their own style of melodic death metal with acoustic passages and such, they formed a fairly small but devoted cult around themselves, and from there continued to play and gain more recognition as the went on. And if you're in their little cult then enjoy yourself. With Blackwater Park, their cult has grown as they've begun to gain more of a presence in the United States, with this album selling around 100,000 copies. I think it’s good that the band is finally getting some long overdue attention from dozens of death metal fans who are just now beginning to escape into Opeth’s little realm for a short while.
But at the same time, Opeth have disappointed me. Their biggest flaw is that all of their albums use the same formula, and only once have their dared to mess with it (on My Arms, Your Hearse), with mixed results. Maybe Blackwater Park provides more of a balance to their ‘new style’since it’s not as hard as MAYH or as soft as Still Life, but it still isn't must of a step for the band. And eventually this formula will wear out. I’m surprised that it’s lasted this long. They do have a formula here, and luckily it is a very successful one. There aren't many bands that can release five albums, most of quite high quality, by just dong the same thing over and over. How long will it be before Opeth needs to actually start growing? We'll see.
Their albums already have a monotonous feel to them. With the exception of Morningrise, which for some reason succeeds on all levels, by the end of one of their albums the music begins to drag a little, and I can never fully lose myself in their sound like so many of their fans can. Their fans (and the band themselves) take pride in the fact that often you can't tell where one song ends and another begins. It’s not an album with songs, they say, it’s a piece with movements. Sure. Let the band do as they wish, but Don’t be surprised if you purchase ad Opeth album and find yourself looking for a little variety of some sort by the time it’s over.
Here we have one really interesting tune to break the monotony, “Harvest,” which is an excellent all acoustic track that’s actually my favorite track on the album. Other highlights include the powerful opener of “The Leper Affinity” and the slow clean beginning to “Dirge Of November.” I'll still give the album an uncertain 8, since I’m not exactly sure how long the formula will hold out here. I hope it'll be for a long time, but somehow I doubt that. I do enjoy this album quite a bit, even though this has been mostly a negative review. If you like Opeth, this is probably already in your collection, and if you aren't and Opeth fan, get Morningrise first.
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COMMENTS
I really like "Bleak" off this release, although i wish that they'd ditch the cookie monster vocals for the entire song. Those type of vocals just dont seem to fit here. The melodic singing sections are very fine indeed, though.
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